Read

Andy Weir, author of The Martian, has a few short stories on his website, and they are excellent—seriously. Shalene and I spent an era of our marriage reading short stories out loud to each other before bed. The Egg and The Midtown Butcher are my two faves, and The Egg has some incredible accolades (and rightfully so).

Watch

Listen

Song: “Dracula” by Tame Impala (Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube)

Podcast: The Easy Way to Build and Maintain Meaningful Relationships with Nick Gray | All the Hacks (Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube)

Play

Stardew Valley—I’ve been really enjoying this game. It’s chill and low commitment while being engaging, creative, and relaxing. It’s like a mix between Farmville and Legend of Zelda. I’ve got about 14 hours of gameplay so far, and I know I’ll be sinking (erm, enjoying) many, many more.

Tool

In a Reddit post on backing up photos, users talked about apps that can clean up photos, but there wasn’t a good solution for protecting your data. The real solution was found in a comment that has proven to be a relatively simple technique for cleaning up my Photos app. 

Type a date in the search bar without the year.

Click the date so it displays in the search bar, then scroll to full results (the pink boxes are covering my photos).

Then, when you feel the impulse to reach for your phone, just clean out photos with that date (minus the year). There will be several screenshots, random photos, and duplicates that will be easy to delete. This feels way more manageable and gamified than a major photo overhaul. It’s also been fun rediscovering memories and sharing with friends!

Fun Find

I still fantasize about the “wooden castle park” of my youth. As it turns out, there is a specific company credited with making these splintery, creative beauties: Leather and Associates.

Ponder

Excerpt: “It doesn’t matter if you’re a model maker, a potter, a dancer, a programmer, a writer, a political activist, a teacher, a musician, a milliner, whatever. It’s all the same. Making is making, and none of it is failure.”
~Adam Savage in Every Tool’s A Hammer: Life Is What You Make It

Quote: “Routine in an intelligent man is a sign of ambition. A modern stoic knows that the surest way to discipline passion is to discipline time; decide what you want or ought to do during the day, then always do it at exactly the same moment every day, and passion will give you no trouble.”
~W. H. Auden

As I am slowly refining this newsletter, I’d love feedback on the format and content. Reach out in the comments or via Twitter (@JonnyMHenderson).